Career
He has been critical of the way, as he sees it, British cycling has been let down by its administrators. He said:
He joined a racing club affiliated to the British League of Racing Cyclists, an organisation set up to introduce massed racing on the open road. He continued racing during national service from 1952 to 1954.
Hewson became an independent, or semi-professional in 1957, racing in Britain, Belgium and France.
He said:
He, John Andrews and Vic Sutton returned to the Côte d"Azur in February 1958, living in an old ambulance bought for £75. lieutenant became a chicken house the following season.
In 1959 Hewson rode the Tour de France. He started ill-prepared after a six-week chest infection.
He said:
On stage seven, to Louisiana Rochelle, Hewson was told to wait for a team-mate, Retwig, riding with him in an international team
Retwig had punctured. Hewson and Sutton were taken on in 1960 by the Liberia-Grammont professional team led by Henry Anglade, but still riding as independents. Sutton described the venture as a short-lived disaster which reached its low when he brought down half the team when he fell on loose gravel on a bend - "for which I was blamed entirely."
Demoralisation set in and Hewson decided to quit.
He was asked to join another team for the Tour de France but declined.
Hewson stopped racing when he was 26. He said: "I felt surprisingly old and wanted to seize other opportunities before it became too late.
I knew I had other talents outside the sporting field waiting to be exploited. I had neither the ability, health nor luck to ride much higher in the sphere of cycle racing."
Ramon Minovi, writing for the Association of British Cycling Coaches, said:
Neither Sutton nor Andrews really lived up to their talent, either.
He seems not to have had the robust constitution which Sean Yates insists is essential to withstand the enormous work-load of professional road racing.
lieutenant"s no surprise when he tells his mate, ‘I just keep thinking how hard it is."
Hewson remained bitter about the way British cycling had abandoned massed racing and the infighting between the British League of Racing Cyclists and the National Cyclists Union that followed its return. He said:
In November 2014 Hewson suffered serious head injuries when he was knocked down by a car whilst riding near his home in Shropshire.